Chapter 8: Time to Plan
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The Fame menu had, in fact, been changed. It now contained a slightly new description and increased details. Atlas sped-read everything. For some reason, sitting in one spot right now continued to make him overly nervous.
{Fame Points}
Available: 11.5
As a participant of the 257th Grand Tournament, you are currently restricted to only Stage 1 pre-approved items. The number of items available will increase as trials are completed. Due to having the Title [Day One Celebrity], several previously hidden items can now be purchased with your collected Fame Points.
[Weapons]
(Sorted By: Only New Items)
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Stone Age Sword -
A sword made from driftwood and chipped stone.
Quality - Basic
Cost: 1.5 FP
Stone Age Axe -
A axe made from driftwood and chipped stone.
Quality - Basic
Cost: 1.5 FP
Stone Age Bow -
A bow made from driftwood and animal sinew.
Quality - Basic
Cost: 2 FP
Stone Age Shamen’s Staff (Celebrity Bonus) -
A roughly carved staff made from a single animal bone.
Quality - Basic, Unusual
Cost: 3 FP
[Armor]
(Sorted By: Only New Items)
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Stone Age Hide Jerkin -
A rough vest made from the untreated hide of a beast.
Quality - Basic
Cost: 1.0 FP
Stone Age Hide Cap -
A simple cap made from the untreated hide of a beast.
Quality - Basic
Cost: 1.0 FP
Stone Age Hide Gauntlets -
A pair of rough bracers made from the untreated hide of a beast.
Quality - Basic
Cost: 1.0 FP
Stone Age Shamen’s Wrap (Celebrity Bonus) -
A rough hide wrap, bound to the waist with fiber and animal sinew.
Quality - Basic, Unusual
Cost: 3 FP
[Tools]
(Sorted By: Only New Items
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Stone Age Sickle -
A sickle made from driftwood and chipped stone.
Quality - Basic
Cost: 0.5 FP
Stone Age Fishing Net -
A small net made from woven-together fiber bindings.
Quality - Basic
Cost: 0.5 FP
Stone Age Firestarter -
A piece of flint and stone tied together.
Quality - Basic
Cost: 0.5 FP
Stone Age Shamen’s Focus (Celebrity Bonus) -
A roughly carved elemental focus made from a single piece of animal bone.
Quality - Basic, Unusual
Cost: 3 FP
So… a matching set? Obviously, the Shamen’s gear was the added bonus previously mentioned, but with the sparse descriptions given it was hard to justify paying the increased price. Still, this whole rotten shebang was just itching to be thought of like a video game, from the levels increasing to the loot gained.
Atlas began to seriously wonder who was behind all of this. Like, sure. The voice in the white void had given some basic details and rattled off some court law-type info, but that couldn’t be everything. Who had actually designed this “tournament”? Why was it forcing everyone to survive in the wilds, instead of competing in puzzles and arenas and the like?
He felt fairly certain once he found the answers to those questions, he’d have a decent idea of who exactly to gut punch until death. No, nix that. He’d smack the idiot into space, and if the spindly, green, bug-eyed alien survived that, well.
Glancing over at the now yawning giant grizzly, Atlas smirked. If he ever did actually catch the ones in charge, or at least the ones to be blamed for screwing up his weekend, he’d just feed them to Old Joe here.
Before purchasing the Shamen’s items, he considered buying a better weapon to defend himself. He wanted the axe, but the attack bonus received from using a non-weapon made him reconsider. Glancing around at his gathered equipment, an idea began to form.
What if he just doubled down? Sure, later on in the tournament once better items were up for sale, lots of high-tiered weapons would undoubtedly be what everyone wanted. But if he continued to gather bonuses around specifically “not” using weapons…
Atlas would be the first to admit he was kind of an average guy among his generation. That is to say; he did fine in school, was active in a few sports, and had a decent family life. He had worked a couple of jobs, had lived in both rural and urban environments, and had friends across multiple areas of society. He loved the outdoors, but also enjoyed the modern conveniences of the 21st century. He could be considered fairly intelligent, well-mannered, and professional. He also loved to read and play video games.
He was never “the best” at really anything, always falling just a bit shy of exceptional. A jack-of-all-trades if you will. But there was one small, mostly insignificant thing, that Atlas had always been good at. Breaking things. Literally and figuratively.
Even as a small child, he’d gotten into trouble multiple times for accidents that he had unwittingly caused. Broken family heirlooms, furniture, tools, and toys. He learned fairly quickly not to grow overly attached to material objects, and thus would often use hand-me-downs. As he grew older, these became things like previously owned cars, phones, or computers. Even clothes and dishes were soon destroyed in his presence! The number of times he’d been called “a bull in a china shop”, was too numerous to count.
This unfortunate side effect seemed to carry over into the aforementioned video games, and so it was often that Atlas found his character floating beneath the vast skyboxes of unloaded terrain, or zig-zagging across the maps fast enough to split the atom. As with everything else, he had learned to live with it.
Then came a D&D session played with a group of college friends, and for the first time in his life, Atlas realized what it meant to “break the game” in a good way. He was always looking for a leg up, a unique path to whatever objective had been set. It was almost subconscious, this drive to find the boundaries of a fictional story structured only by a few players’ manuals and their united imagination. This usually ended terribly for all characters involved, but also provided some of the best laughs and inside jokes to be remembered.
And so it was, as Atlas looked down at the softly glowing pick and woefully pathetic hatchet, that an idea began to form. Maybe, just maybe, there was a way to break the system. And it had already been provided, with just a few simple words.
Bleed damage.
He couldn’t help himself. A grin formed, a plan beginning to take shape. He’d need to be careful not to say anything out loud, and to spread out his purchases as if unaware. In fact, if the system that controlled the tournament could be patched, this might all be for naught. But, if there was a chance… he was going to try.
Trying to seem nonchalant, he quickly purchased the Shamen’s set (he still needed actual clothes), and then spent a few of his points on extra hatchets. A bundle of objects appeared on the dirt floor beside him, but his attention remained focused on the menus, switching from fame points to power points. He was looking for one skill in particular, but in all likelihood, it wouldn’t appear. Fingers crossed, he tabbed over to the newly added skills.
[Skills]
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Basic Aim:
Increase the accuracy of your attack, adding 2x damage to any ranged weapon.
Skill Rank: Basic (Upgradeable)
Cost: 3 PP
Basic Parry:
After defending successfully, immediately deal 2x damage with a return attack.
Skill Rank: Basic (Upgradeable)
Cost: 3 PP
Basic Cleave:
Adjust the angle of your attack, adding 2x damage to any slashing weapon.
Skill Rank: Basic (Upgradeable)
Cost: 3 PP
Basic Cast [Shamen Spells Only]
(Celebrity Bonus):
Activate a prepared* ritual, casting it immediately without a mana cost. (Requires a Shamen’s Focus)
Skill Rank: Basic (Upgradeable)
Cost: 6 PP
Well, not quite what he was hoping for, but he’d take it. After purchasing the parry and cast, Atlas found that his Power Points were depleted. That was fine though, cause if his plan worked as intended, from now on he wouldn’t worry about picking up any skills that mentioned weapons.
His previously slotted skills had thankfully upgraded from basic to common, each cooldown shrinking by a few seconds. He did feel as though they should eventually get more powerful than just 2x damage, or maybe not. If it was just a shrinking cooldown for every rank, that could still be useful.
The massive rising form of a grizzly bear off the side quickly drew his attention. Standing up, Atlas wondered once again, “Is this a really stupid idea?”. And ya, it really was. Still, if it worked… just one more advantage to add on his side. And he was going to need every advantage he could get.